Building on plans announced at last year’s Rural Cellular Association event in Las Vegas, NetAmerica Alliance unveiled its consumer brand as well as news that another member of its alliance was set to launch service by the end of the month.
NetAmerica last year unveiled plans for rural wireless operators to pool the resources of 700 MHz license owners into a larger collective able to generate better pricing on equipment. In addition, NetAmerica also offered to own and operate the core of an LTE network for clients, which would allow them to focus on the actual network infrastructure components.
The company announced this week that member partner Guymon, Okla.-based Panhandle Telephone Cooperative was set to launch LTE services by the end of March. Panhandle currently owns spectrum covering six counties in Oklahoma that are home to more than 45,000 people. The carrier’s network includes 45 towers covering 5,000 square miles and is connected to NetAmerica’s SuperCenter core. The NetAmerica equipment was provided by Ericsson and is designed to provide the tools and infrastructure platform necessary for carriers to house their converged wireline and wireless services.
NetAmerica member Peoples Telephone Cooperative began offering services last month in parts of Texas using its 700 MHz spectrum assets. The carrier’s move to LTE also involved replacing its legacy WiMAX-powered network.
“Prior to joining the Alliance we evaluated the risks and complexity of deploying a 4G LTE network on our own and decided the alliance model made a lot of sense,” said Ron Strecker, CEO of Panhandle Telephone. “I can say now, with the benefit of hindsight, that the decision was an excellent one. The alliance model was ready and we were able to focus on our business while still sharing knowledge with other members, gaining the benefit of brand positioning based on hard research and cost effectively taking advantage of leading edge technology based on the IP multi-media subsystem architecture.”
NetAmerica also announced its “Bonfire” consumer brand name. The company said the name was chosen following months of market research. “No matter what age or gender, everyone has their own image of fun, family, and community experiences which were shared around a bonfire many times in their life,” NetAmerica said in a statement.
During last year’s RCA event, NetAmerica CEO Roger Hutton told attendees that the company’s offering would allow rural operators to remain independent of any outside influence that might come from partnering with a larger entity. The company said it had started to garner some traction with operators as it was under non-disclosure agreements with at least 100 spectrum holders and had four commitments.
Rural operators have been presented with a number of options in looking to roll out LTE services, including partnerships with nationwide operators, roaming agreements with new entrants and alliance opportunities.
Bored? Why not follow me on Twitter?
